Wishful Thinking
by CookieCatSU
Summary: Lilith reflects on an unusual encounter with her sister, who actually turned out not to be her sister at all. In hindsight, that was pretty obvious. Or; Once Upon a Swap was weird, and Lilith is a desperate idiot who really misses her sister.


**Was anyone else bothered that Lilith didn't seem to be able to recognize her own sister in the lastest episode? I know it was just filler, but it bugged me because it was so obvious, so I just had to write this out. Just a possible explanation for an otherwise ridiculous scenario.**

* * *

Eda did not have brown eyes. Eda was never caught dead without her mascara on. And Eda had never been a negotiator. Lilith knew that.

She knew all of those things, because she _knows_ her sister.

And she should have known that… person… demon… thief, _whoever_ they were, wasn't her sister.

She should have known as soon as she smiled.

Eda, her sister, had never allowed herself to be captured, never willingly, at least. And she definitely didn't draw attention to herself with glittering light shows, begging to be found. Instead she wallowed in the shadows, hiding from the authorities (from her), from the inevitable justice she was bound to receive. The justice that Lilith herself was bound to uphold.

She should have known as soon as she sat down, mild mannered. The way she looked at her, confused and half lost, pleading, in that powerless sort of way. No. Eda… Edaline, would have been angry, snarling curses through her teeth. She would have kicked and shouted, and dug in her heels every step of the way, glaring at the guards with narrowed, burning eyes.

Eda would have argued. Would have denounced the covens, would have laid siege to the very system she believed guilty of injustice. Bursting with that chaotic, uncontrolled magic of hers, ready to spring out of that room in a moment's notice.

Eda would not have listened, even for those few, precious seconds. She never did.

Lilith should have known that wasn't her sister, so restrained, so calm, so receptive.

It was all just wishful thinking, she supposed, that blinded her to the obvious.

Lilith had just been so quick to jump at the opportunity to pull her sister back into the fold with her, so delighted by the thought that she might want to serve by her side, that she hadn't noticed any of the signs.

She'd wanted that nameless, faceless person to be Eda. Someone who would listen. Who would hear her.

The person Edaline used to be.

Lilith admits, in the quiet confines of solitude, to a weakness on her part, to a silly hope she simply can't squash.

She was hoping, that maybe, Eda was finally ready to come back to her.

And who could blame her?

* * *

The two little girls sit side by side on the winding stairwell, just outside the library. They're both starry eyed, shoulders touching, voices bright with dreams of glamour.

Dreams they've been dreaming since they were six

"We're both going to be powerful witches in the Emperor's Coven! We're going to be so powerful- they'll have to write books about us!" Eda's voice swells with excitement, as she jumps to her feet, nearly tumbling down the stairs from the sudden motion.

She catches herself, of course.

Lilith smiles, wide with anticipation. She hugs her books to her chest, swaddled by the warmth, and comfort, of her current company,

"And we'll do it together"

Eda pauses, and quiets, eyes squinting in confusion.

"Well, duh! Why wouldn't we?"

Lilith considers that. The idea was unfathomable, honestly. Of course they would.

"That's all I care about" Lilith replies.

Eda doesn't answer. The conversation had become considerably too somber for her tastes. So quiet. So serious.

As a distraction, the red clothed girl snatches the book off the top of Lilith's stack, grinning as she clamors down the stairs two at a time.

"I need this," She hollers back up the steps, "Thanks, sis!"

Lilith laughed, loud and happy, and chased after her.

"Eda, give that back!"

* * *

She sits, hunched over the interrogation table, littered with broken bricks and all the aftermath of Eda's- Edaline's- Not Edaline's- path of destruction. Bitter and angry, staring out a gaping hole in the prison wall.

Lilith had let herself be fooled.

She'd really wanted to believe, that Eda had turned herself in. That Eda was reaching out. That Eda wanted to return to society.

Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Lilith… Lilith didn't care.

Lilith just wanted her sister back, where she belonged.

By her side.

And she'd do anything to make it happen.


End file.
